21 October 2011 Bloopers

Bloopers

Despite how smooth our journals may have seemed to you... As with any expedition, things didn't always run smoothly. Here are a few of our more humorous situations from the 2011 field season.

Sea Ice Conditions

This was the first year in about a decade where all of the sea ice cleared out in front of McMurdo Station. As a result, there was a lot of hesitation and uncertainty when we began to travel out on the sea ice. There was a lot of concern about where to travel and safety around sea ice cracks. In fact, the situation was still on-going as we prepare to leave the ice. We spent countless hours driving around sea ice cracks. Fortunately, we never fell into any...

Dark

Steph, upon walking into the coffeehouse one evening, said "Oh man, it is so dark in here! They must not be open. I can't believe it!"

We all looked at Steph and said: "Try taking off your sunglasses."

Steph, "Oh, that's much better."

Steph had another shining "blooper" moment during this expedition. During the course of dinner one evening, she tried telling a joke that had been rehearsed countless times within the group. Needless to say, it did not go quite as she had intended. I have never seen a group of people laugh so hard... The moment was priceless.

Drysuits

The purpose of a drysuit is to keep you dry. Dr. Marsh and Mike's drysuits needed several repairs during the 2011 season. In fact, I think the rest of the divers thought we were being ridiculous. At one point, Dive Supervisor Rob Robbins came into the Dive Locker and said, "Here use these." and handed us two drysuits to borrow. Once again the Dive Locker to the rescue!

Pisten Bully Follies

A Pisten Bully is a rather expensive machine. While ours was incredibly reliable, Mike had some bad luck two days in a row. First, upon opening the front door at a dive site, the wind ripped the door from Mike's hand and broke the hinge. That prompted a sticker on the doors from the Dive Locker staff that read:

WINDY?

KEEP ONE HAND ON THE DOOR

Mike also ran the Pisten Bully so hard one day that it overheated - yeah, in Antarctica, of all places. I thought Stephanie and Annamarie were going to kick me out to walk home after I had done something so stupid. But, as usual, they were overly nice about it.

No, really we ran out of ice

This sign appeared on the ice machine in the Galley. I am sure there must be a solution to this problem. If only, there was some place we could get some ice...

Drill is broken

The Reed Drill went to the Heavy Shop twice for repairs. At one point, Steve Zellerhoff, expert drilling technician, started shopping on-line for a new one. I won't tell you what it costs...

Darn, that's cold...

A few times we went diving without the heat on in our dive hut. I must say that it takes some extra effort to get ready, and some particular hardiness on the part of our dive tenders. Coming back out of 28˚F water to an unheated hut is not something I would wish on anybody. Special thanks to Rob and Steve who showed me a great new dive site twice even though the heat wasn't working. They could have said, "No, we won't dive today." But they stepped up to give me two unforgettable experiences, despite the harsh conditions.